UC Berkeley Republican students settle with school over alleged conservative speaker bias

UC Berkeley lost this one big time. You cannot squash free speech just because you don’t like what people are (freely) saying.

It’s almost like the radicals from the 1960’s have totally forgotten what free speech is all about.

Those 1960s radicals have become the 2010s fascists.

A public Northern California university is on the losing end of a free-speech lawsuit and has agreed to settle with its own students.

The newly reached settlement is ordering U.C. Berkeley to repay a $70,000 payment to the Young America’s Foundation, who sued the school for alleged discrimination.

The agreement is being hailed as a “landmark victory for free expression” by the foundation and by Berkeley College Republicans, which is the group at the center of the suit.

The suit was brought against Berkeley over policies the organization’s said forced multiple cancellations of conservative guest speaking events. The plaintiffs initially claimed right-wing events were subjected to “secret” measures by school administrators.

Campus conservatives planned high-profile events, including lectures from political commentators Ann Coulter and Ben Shapiro in April of 2017, which were both shutdown.

The right-wing organization wrote to Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks the same month to denounce what it called censorship of Republican voices.

Dirks claimed security issues were to blame for the decision to cancel Coulter’s appearance and cited recent protests over past conservative events.

“As the home of the free speech movement, we fully support the right of our students to hose free speech events,” stated Dirks. “Ms. Coulter’s announcement without regard to the fact we do not have a protectable venue available on that date is of grave concern.”